View 2016 Federal Agency Accomplishments Report

48 Pages·2016·0.7 MB·English

by  Lu, David

Building a Legacy for the Asian American
and Pacific Islander Community
_________________________________

FEDERAL AGENCY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

MAY 2016
Dear reader,
Since 2010, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, which is housed
within the Department of Education, has worked with 24 federal agencies to develop agency plans that
address mission specific and cross-cutting issues of importance to Asian American, Native Hawaiian and
Pacific Islander communities. Together, we have improved the delivery of information and services to
limited English proficient Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) and others, strengthened data
collection and reporting systems to disaggregate AAPI subgroup data, helped connect underserved
individuals to federal grant, resource and programs opportunities, and expanded awareness of federal
employment opportunities, including among AAPIs.
These successes have been captured in our annual Federal Agency Accomplishments Report, and
the enclosed report is the final one of President Obama’s Administration. On behalf of the President’s
Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and our staff, I want to acknowledge the
agencies that have worked with us and extend my gratitude and appreciation for the years of
meaningful collaboration and hard work to improve quality of life for AAPIs and so many other people
across the nation. None of these accomplishments would have been possible without the commitment,
time, and support of the following agencies:
1. Corporation for National and Community Service
2. Federal Communications Commission
3. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
4. U.S. Department of Agriculture
5. U.S. Department of Commerce
6. U.S. Department of Defense
7. U.S. Department of Education
8. U.S. Department of Energy
9. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
10. U.S. Department of Homeland Security
11. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
12. U.S. Department of the Interior
13. U.S. Department of Justice
14. U.S. Department of Labor
15. U.S. Department of State
16. U.S. Department of Transportation
17. U.S. Department of the Treasury
18. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
19. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
20. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
21. U.S. General Services Administration
22. U.S. Office of Personnel Management
23. U.S. Small Business Administration
24. U.S. Social Security Administration

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We look forward to the continued progress these agencies will make and thank them for their ongoing
commitment.
Sincerely,

Doua Thor,
Executive Director,
White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

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Table of Contents

HIGHLIGHTS OF FEDERAL AGENCY ACCOMPLISHMENTS ..............................................5

U.S. Department of Agriculture ...................................................................................................9

U.S. Department of Commerce ..................................................................................................13

U.S. Department of Defense .......................................................................................................16

U.S. Department of Education……………………………………………………………………………………………….19

U.S. Department of Energy .........................................................................................................21

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services .......................................................................22

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development .............................................................26

U.S. Department of Justice .........................................................................................................28

U.S. Department of Labor ..........................................................................................................32

U.S. Department of State ...........................................................................................................35

U.S. Department of the Treasury ...............................................................................................37

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs .........................................................................................38

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency......................................................................................39

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ...................................................................41

U.S. Office of Personnel Management ......................................................................................44

U.S. Social Security Administration ...........................................................................................45

National Aeronautics and Space Administration ......................................................................47

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HIGHLIGHTS OF FEDERAL AGENCY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

In 2014, there were approximately 21.8 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs)
living in the United States, and the population is the fastest growing racial group in the United
States, expected to double to approximately 47 million people by 2060.1 For nearly seven years,
the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (WHIAAPI), housed within
the Department of Education, has worked in partnership with 24 federal departments and
agencies to respond to this tremendous growth, leverage resources across federal offices, and
increase participation in and access to federal programs and services. Through the
implementation of specific plans, each federal agency has identified activities, benchmarks, and
outcomes related to four cross-cutting priority goals. These four priority goals are:

 Data Disaggregation: Promoting data disaggregation systems to help us provide
resources where they are most needed.
 Language Access: Ensuring federal programs and services are reaching AAPI
communities, where nearly one in three AAPIs is limited English proficient (LEP) and
language access services can make the difference between disaster and recovery.2
 Workforce Diversity: Expanding federal employment opportunities among AAPIs so that
government truly represents the people it serves – not only through relevant programs
and services but also in its composition.
 Capacity Building: Increasing outreach and access opportunities to federal grants,
resources, and programs for underserved AAPIs.

Over the past year, agencies made measurable progress to improve the quality of life and
create new opportunities for AAPIs across the country. Notable accomplishments in each cross-
cutting area are highlighted below.

Data Disaggregation
ADVANCEMENTS IN COLLECTION, ANALYSIS, AND DISSEMINATION OF DATA ON AAPI
COMMUNITES

1
U.S. Census Bureau, Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month: May 2016, available at
http://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/newsroom/facts-for-features/2016/cb16-ff.07_asian_pacific.pdf.
2 U.S. Census Bureau, 2009-2013 ACS Language Tables, http://www.census.gov/data/tables/2013/demo/2009-
2013-lang-tables.html.
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 In 2015, the Department of Housing and Urban Development collected Asian subgroup
data in the American Housing Survey (AHS) that will be publically available in the
summer of 2016.

 The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a data brief titled Medicare
Health Outcomes Survey Data Brief: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, which
analyzed 2014 health outcomes and quality of life data for AANHPI Medicare
beneficiaries collected by the nationally-representative Medicare Health Outcomes
Survey.

 The Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) collected
data for “Asian” and “Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islanders” in the quinquennial
Census of Agriculture. For the 2012 Census of Agriculture, NASS used the improved
Census mail list from the 2007 Census of Agriculture to place special emphasis on
collecting data from all socially disadvantaged farming operations to include Asian
American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). This resulted in an increased number of AAPI
farms counted compared to the 2007 Census. In May 2014, NASS released the full
Census results along with race, ethnicity and gender profiles by county. Census also
released a fact sheet highlighting data on Asian American farmers from the 2012
Census.

Language Access
INNOVATIVE LANGUAGE ACCESS MODELS TO REACH LEP AAPIs

 Equal Employment Opportunity Agency, in collaboration with the Department of
Justice, Civil Rights Division, Office of Special Counsel For Immigration-Related Unfair
Employment Practices, published a brochure called “Do You Know Where to Go?” that
describes the jurisdiction of each agency and explains where an employee should go if
he or she is a victim of discrimination based on national origin, document abuse and
citizenship status. The brochure was translated into various Asian languages, including
Chinese, Filipino, Tagalog, Hmong, Vietnamese, Korean, Hindi, and Punjabi.

 The Census Bureau established the Language Working Group on the Census Bureau’s
National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations with the aim of
formulating recommendations to address language access needs (including AAPIs) in the
2020 Census. The working group held monthly conference calls and will provide
recommendations to the Census Bureau in 2016.

 As part of the Vulnerable Workers Project, the Department of Labor developed the
content for a website that will be used as a central platform to communicate with
workers and share workers’ rights information and resources. DOL has translated the
executive summary of the report, “First Report of Vulnerable Workers Project”, into
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eight AAPI languages: Bengali, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Hindi, Korean,
Tagalog, Urdu, and Vietnamese.

Workforce Diversity
PROMOTING AND INCREASING AAPIs IN THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE

 The Office of Personnel Management’s Presidential Management Fellows (PMF)
Program conducted virtual outreach to Asian American and Native American Pacific
Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISI) colleges and universities and other diverse
schools to increase diversity in the applicant pool for the PMF Class of 2016. This year’s
applicant pool represented over 300 colleges and universities.

 The Environmental Protection Agency has several tools to increase recruitment,
retention and promotion of diverse talent, including the Recruiting Sources List, which
identifies minority organizations, including AAPI organizations, to receive EPA's vacancy
announcements and the Diversity Dashboard that is a vital tool used to track
employment opportunities agency-wide. The EPA AAPI Special Emphasis Program
Managers and National Program Managers continue to monitor and analyze AAPI
employment data on a quarterly basis.

 The Social Security Administration provided 125 AAPI employees the opportunity to
participate in the Diversity and Inclusion Council Mentoring Program to foster an
inclusive culture that leads to greater retention of experienced and empowered
employees.

Capacity Building
DYNAMIC MODELS OF ENGAGEMENT WITH AND IMPROVED INVESTMENTS IN AAPI
COMMUNITIES

 In collaboration with WHIAAPI, which is housed within the Department of Education,
the International Trade Administration, and the U.S. Export-Import Bank, the
Department of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency, initiated the “Doing
Business in Asia” program and used the trade mission concept to leverage successful
AAPI businesses to lead trade promotions to Asia. Two trade missions to China were
held in October and November of 2015 to explore clean energy and fashion markets in
China.

 The Department of Energy partnered with various entities to promote the Minorities in
Energy Initiative, which seeks to encourage minorities, including AAPIs, to pursue energy
careers.

 The Department of Justice, Office of Violence Against Women, awarded funding to 20
organizations focused on services to AAPI communities. Additionally, the Office of
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Justice Programs (OJP) awarded 60 grants to 28 entities focused on services to AAPI
victims or service areas that include primarily AAPI communities. Of the 60 grants OJP
awarded to grantees serving AAPI constituent communities, 24 grants were awarded to
Hawaii to support public safety, criminal and juvenile justice system activities and
programs, and victim services.
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U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Data Disaggregation
Goal 1. Identify where AAPI farms and ranches are located and their characteristics.
 The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) collected data separately for “Asian”
and for “Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islanders” in the quinquennial Census of
Agriculture. For the 2012 Census of Agriculture, NASS used the improved Census mail
list from the 2007 Census of Agriculture to place special emphasis on collecting data
from all socially disadvantaged farming operations to include Asian American and Pacific
Islanders (AAPIs). This resulted in an increased number of AAPI farms counted compared
to the 2007 Census. In May 2014, NASS released the full Census results along with race,
ethnicity and gender profiles by county. Census also released a fact sheet highlighting
data on Asian American farmers from the 2012 Census. USDA calculated the size of
AAPI operators in the top five AAPI states and found that there was an increase from
10,931 operators in 1234 farms in 2007 to 13,026 operators in 2090 farms in 2012.

 The USDA team working on the content of the 2017 Census of Agriculture has been
formed and is already meeting regularly to improve data collection methods and design
survey instruments that will better capture data on minority-run farming operations in
the 2017 Census.

 USDA continues to maintain its Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Program Statistics tool,
known as REGStats, which utilizes race, ethnicity, and gender data for applicants and
participants in USDA programs administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA), the
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Rural Development (RD), and Risk
Management Agency (RMA). Data is available by fiscal year at national, state, and
county level, and will help identify underserved AAPIs, women, and other minorities.

Goal 2. Improve data disaggregation practices
 RMA identified populations of AAPI-owned farms and ranches in the states of CA, WA,
OR, HI, AR, ID, TX and FL, which include Hmong, Punjabi, Filipino, Lao, Thai and Mien
farmers. RMA will examine the AAPI groups in these states and identify its AAPI program
participants, and identify possible or potential changes to increase AAPI participation.

 USDA continues to collect data on rural development investments in Hawaii and the
Pacific Islands.

Language Access
Goal 3. Expand limited English proficiency (LEP) programs for AAPIs to improve program
delivery.
 FSA created an FSA Employee Language Assessment tool which identifies
bilingual/multilingual employees throughout the country who speak Hmong, Chinese,
Filipino, Mandarin, and Thai. The listing was shared with USDA’s Office of Civil Rights to
help with LEP implementation planning.
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 RMA developed factsheets in Hmong and will identify other AAPI languages for
educational materials regarding USDA programs and services. Based on the RMA
Regional Offices’ LEP Language Access Plans, Korean, Filipino and Mien communities
would be targeted AAPI groups.

 NRCS identified programs, services, and/or activities that would have a serious
consequence if language barriers prevented a LEP persons' access. As a result, NRCS
developed an LEP webpage that includes a list of the foreign languages spoken in NRCS
service areas on its LEP webpage. NRCS also plans to translate program/application
materials and develop an LEP factsheet that includes the needs and concerns of LEP
AAPIs.

 NASS’ Special Emphasis Program Managers and State Office Directors worked together
to ascertain whether translations were needed for surveys or for data dissemination.
NASS brought in several AAPI organizations to help community-based organizations
better understand the Census of Agriculture data so that they could effectively
communicate the significance of the data to constituencies in their native languages.

 NIFA, NRCS and RD continued to collaborate to support the Hmong Language Media
Resource program at Michigan State University, which translated USDA resource
material into audio for Hmong populations. Since 90 percent of the Hmong are not
English proficient, a hotline and website are also available for non-English speaking
Hmong to obtain technical assistance and agricultural training.

Goal 4. Comply with federal language access policy pursuant to EO 13166.
 NRCS finalized its LEP plan. The plan provides guidance on identifying interpreters and
translators, as well as the bilingual employees and community volunteers; including
languages spoken, competence level, contact information, and hours available. NRCS
also designated a National LEP Coordinator and State LEP Points of Contact.

Workforce Diversity
Goal 5. Expand federal employment opportunities through increased recruitment, retention,
and promotion efforts.
 Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) hosted a focus group session for AAPI employees
and continued its outreach and recruitment efforts through an ongoing partnership with
the University of Maryland-College Park’s Asian American Studies Program.

 RMA added a list of Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving
Institutions (AANAPISIs) Colleges and Universities with agricultural programs to its
educational recruitment List.

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